The Internet has transformed how we live and work. Its pervasiveness and accessibility have brought countless benefits to individuals and businesses. Yet those same characteristics have also provided new opportunities for misconduct.
The number of new viruses discovered every month continues to increase. Currently, between 300 and 600 new viruses appear each month, which corresponds to 10 or 20 new viruses per day. Viruses now exist which infect diskettes, program files, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, databases, batch scripts, and more. Despite our awareness of computer viruses, how many of us can define what one is, or how it infects computers?
What Is a Computer Virus?
A virus is a program designed to replicate itself without permission. In addition, some make great efforts to avoid detection, damage programs and/or data and transfer information and/or funds out of the company to third parties. Viruses must be executed before they can do anything to your computer system. To aid this, viruses usually try to avoid detection by disguising themselves as a legitimate program or attaching themselves to a trusted program. Viruses are not only “executable” programs, but may also be contained in the “macros” used by programs such as document macros in word processors, spread sheets etc.
There are four types of Virus: hoax, non-malicious, malicious and security breaching. Hoax viruses, which may best be described as another form of spam, are of more nuisance value than anything else but again can be time consuming. Non-malicious viruses do not cause any actual damage and have more nuisance value than anything else, nevertheless they too can be very time consuming and therefore expensive to eradicate from a system. Malicious viruses will damage systems in some way, whether it is erasing hard disks, tampering with Word document templates, or some other destructive process. Security breach viruses may transfer internal files and information out of your company to a third party without your permission.
Many people believe the worst a virus can do is format your hard disk. In fact, this type of payload is now harmless for those of us who back up our important data. Much more destructive viruses are those which subtly corrupt data. Consider, for example, the effects of a virus that randomly changes numbers in spreadsheet applications by plus or minus 10%. Other nasty viruses post company confidential documents in your own name to some of the Internet newsgroups, an act which can both ruin your reputation and the company's confidentiality.
The cost of an attack can be split into three parts - eradication (time taken), retraining staff and re-occurrence.
It can take many days of work to remove a virus from even a small network of computers – for example, to remove a word macro virus that has successfully propagated around the network, the same software must be run on each networked machine and server. While this is being done, no employees can use Word. In addition to scanning all these machines for the virus, floppy discs and other removable media must also be checked so that they are unable to re-introduce the virus to the network.
The total cost of the virus attack can be significant, given the loss of time by all employees plus the loss of time while scanning the machines and discs to remove the virus. There is also the question of maintaining an increased level of vigilance to make sure that the virus is not given the opportunity to reappear. For example, a copy of the virus saved to a floppy disk not present during the initial sweep may possibly re-infect the whole network again.
The best way for your company to protect itself against viruses is let Alchetec help create an anti-virus strategy that includes:
- Making backups of all software (including operating systems), so if a virus attack has been made, you can retrieve safe copies of your files and software.
- Educate employees in the company that the risk of infection grows exponentially when people exchange floppy disks, download web material or open email attachments without caution.
- Select and install anti-virus software that is updated regularly as a means to detect, report and (where appropriate) disinfect viruses.
An out of date virus scanner is only marginally better than no virus scanner at all. Virus scanners work by comparing the data on your computer against a collection of virus "signatures". Each signature is characteristic of a particular virus, and when the scanner finds data in a file, email, or elsewhere that matches the signature, it concludes that it's found a virus. However, a virus scanner can only scan for the viruses it knows about. It's vital that you keep your virus scanner's signature file up to date, as new viruses are created every day.
The problem actually goes a bit deeper than this, though. Typically, a new virus will do the greatest amount of damage during the early stages of its life, precisely because few people will be able to detect it. Once word gets around that a new virus is on the loose, and people update their virus signatures, the spread of the virus falls off drastically. The key is to get ahead of the curve, and have updated signature files on your machine before the virus hits.
Virtually every maker of anti-virus software provides a way to get updated signature files. It is also necessary to keep the virus scanner itself – that is, the scanning software – updated as well. Virus writers periodically develop new techniques that require that the scanners change how they do their work.
Alchetec will work with you to create a solution that will keep you up-to-date. Let us help develop a comprehensive virus protection strategy for your business. Contact us at 773.275.9900 to insure that your business is guarded against interruptions or embarrassment that can be caused by computer viruses.
© Copyright 2005. Alchetec. All Rights Reserved
Return to Resources page
